


This Christmas, and the Next

by theholidayclub



Category: Newsies (1992)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Christmas Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-29
Updated: 2013-12-29
Packaged: 2018-01-06 15:02:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1108246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theholidayclub/pseuds/theholidayclub
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's the holiday season, and Jack is determined to make the most of it in their own apartment.</p>
            </blockquote>





	This Christmas, and the Next

“Wake up, wake up, it’s Christmas!”

David blinked wearily up at Jack for a moment, before rolling over in the bed and pulling the blankets up over his head. “No.”

“C’mon Dave, where’s your holiday spirit?”

“I used it all up on Hanukkah. You know, the holiday I actually celebrate?”

Jack pulled away the blankets, causing David to curse under his breath as he sat up. “I remember.  _You_  should remember that I did everything you asked me to, mostly, during the whole thing. And that’s a long holiday, Dave. You owe me.”

David glanced at the clock on the side table and groaned. “Do I have to owe you before eight?”

“Absolutely.”

David sighed dramatically and swung his legs over the side of the bed. He slid his feet into his slippers and made a show of standing up slowly. “Did you at least start my coffee?”

Jack snorted. “Course I did, I don’t got that much of a death wish.”

The promise of hot coffee had David moving a little faster out of the bedroom, but as he reached the end of the hallway, he stopped cold at the sight of their living room.

The entire space was decorated with tinsel and lights. The tree, which Jack had insisted on picking up a couple of weeks ago “just for the hell of it”, was now weighed down with ornaments, and a small pile of presents was stacked underneath. The mistletoe hanging in nearly every doorway didn’t go unnoticed either, and David couldn’t help but think that could turn out problematic when their friends stopped by later.

“Did you do all of this last night?” David asked, trying to remember Jack ever getting out of bed.

“I couldn’t sleep, and I had all these extra decorations from work that were wastin’ away in the closet. It’s great, ain’t it?”

“I need coffee,” David answered. He moved quickly into the kitchen, pulling his usual mug out of the cupboard and helping himself to a fresh cup of coffee.

“I can take it down if it’s gonna bug you so much,” Jack said from the doorway, obviously trying not to look upset.

David shook his head. “It’s not the decorations, Jack, it’s just – I never realized you were so enthusiastic about Christmas.”

Jack shrugged. “Didn’t have a reason to be. Foster kids don’t really get a big haul for holidays. Half the time I spent it with Snyder, cause no one wants to take in an extra kid at Christmas. And then the last couple years, staying with your family, they were great. But like you said, you don’t celebrate it. I wasn’t gonna put up any fuss about it when your folks were being nice enough to put a roof over my head while I made something of myself.”

David moved away from the counter and closer to Jack, coffee cup gripped tightly in his hands. He nodded, encouraging Jack to continue with his train of thought.

“This is the first year I’ve had a place of my own to really  _have_  a Christmas, or any kind of family to have Christmas with. That’s the whole point of holidays, right? To spend time with your family – do we count as a family? Can two people be a family?”

David had never really looked at the holidays like that, and it hit him rather hard in that moment.

When he was little, Hanukkah had been about the presents. It was the time of year when his parents splurged on gifts that were fun, rather than practical, like toys and games and books that told adventures rather than teaching about math and science.

As he got older, it became more of an entertaining obligation. Celebrating Hanukkah came with being a Jacobs. He still enjoyed the presents, and the religious parts were more interesting because he understood it better than he did as a child, but it was never really more than a yearly tradition.

And of course, Christmas always seemed a bit ridiculous to him. Most scholars believed that Jesus was actually born in the spring time, and he didn’t understand how anyone, even little kids, could be convinced that a fat man in a red suit managed to deliver presents to everyone in the world with the help of flying reindeer.

Jack didn’t seem to be thinking of any of that, though. Christmas was a sign of success to him. Making a Christmas morning for the two of them meant he was doing something right with his life.

“Of course we count,” David said, putting his coffee down on the table and closing the distance between him and Jack. “Every family starts with two people – they’re not usually both men, but then when have we ever done anything the conventional way?”

“We should get a dog. Then there’d be three of us. The dog can be our kid. Can we name it Cowboy?”

David groaned; a dog was the last thing he wanted to clean up after, but Jack already looked excited. He couldn’t bring himself to say no. “So long as you promise not to name any  _actual_  kids Cowboy, a dog can be your Christmas present from me.”

“Any kid of ours is gonna have enough issues without being named Cowboy, Dave.”

David pressed his lips to Jack’s in a searing kiss, one that made his stomach flip and had goosebumps spreading across his skin, despite the heat going full blast in the apartment.

“What was that for?” Jack asked, a smirk growing on his face when they broke apart.

Feeling silly for getting so emotional over his partner’s casual use of the term “any kid of ours”. David chose instead to point up at one of the many sprigs of mistletoe Jack had hung sometime last night. “Are the presents under the tree for me?” he asked, not trying to hide the fact that he wanted a subject change.

Jack nodded, looking pleased with himself. “Yup, and I only asked Sarah for help once.”

“Sarah knew? Did Les?”

Jack rolled his eyes. “All grown up and the kid still can’t keep any kind of secret. You think I’m that dumb?”

“Not  _that_  dumb, no,” David teased, hurriedly slipping into the living room and away from Jack before he could retaliate.

“You’re lucky I love you, Jacobs.”

David paused in investigating the presents to grin widely at Jack. “Trust me, I know I am.”

**Author's Note:**

> I am not any kind of religious, and my knowledge on Hanukkah is very limited. All previous thoughts on the holiday and associated religion are not based in any kind of fact, so if something comes across as wonky or rude or inaccurate, it was not on purpose, it was just how I interpreted things to tell the story I wanted to tell


End file.
